Angelo Romano left Spain as a young man. From 1965 to 1968, Angelo
Romano worked as a sailor in the Brazilian merchant marine. Early in his
career, his talent was noticed by the captain of the ship upon which he was
working, the cruise ship Rosa de la Fonseca, and he was asked to “create some
art” to decorate the newly commissioned vessel before it arrived in its home
port of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before long he was asked to do similar exhibitions
and decoration work on other ships including the Ana Nery, the Princesa Isabel
and the Princesa Leopoldina. This body of work traveled across seas and oceans
for three years, stopping in the following ports of call: Buenos Aires, Montevideo,
Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, Naples, London, Tel Aviv, Miami, and
sixteen of the Caribbean islands.
Who Is Angelo?
There is art that decorates, and arts that protects: Angelo's art transforms.
In the “Popular Art” (Mas Actual Ediciones S.A., Madrid 1976), Juan Ramirez
Lucas notes that “the naïf painter paints with such love that it is difficult
to find the same strength of emotion in other types of art.”
People feel a personal connection with Angelo's art and see something
familiar in it: “This sculpture looks so much like a Russian icon!” Another
person sees Aztec designs, and still another defines Angelo as a “ultramodernist”.
Angelo, however, paints without worrying about which category he belongs to.
An art collector from the United States who saw this early work bought
many of Angelo's paintings and brought the artist to the U.S. in 1968. From
that time until today, Angelo has produced a vast body of different works: theater
sets in auditoriums and clubs, frescos in cathedrals, designs for totems and
cloths, masks, furniture and free standing sculpture. His work ever more emphasizes
the importance of recycling and the frugal use of available materials.
Angelo paints bottles, old shoes, used frying pans: He rescues from
the trash what others throw away and lovingly returns it transformed into art.
His largest projects have been accomplished with the ingenious use of recycled
materials.
All three floors of the Caba–a Carioca, the famed New York Brazilian
restaurant, were decorated by Angelo and his work there continues to provoke
the notice and admiration of all who visit the popular Times Square establishment.
During this past spring, Angelo was commissioned to complete a large fresco
in a cathedral in his birthplace, Madrid, and was honored when a wing of Spain’s
International Museum of Folk Art was dedicated to his work.
Having his paintings on exhibit is a constant in Angelo's life. His
work about AIDS are exhibited in hospitals, cultural centers, libraries and
universities. Juan Ramirez de Lucas, the respected Spanish art critic, calls
Angelo “the most prolific naïf painter in New York, and to say 'in New York”
is like saying 'in the whole world'!” Angelo has done over 300 exhibitions of
his work and is represented in scores of museums and private collections in
Europe, Latin and North America. (Among the collections in which Angelo is represented
are those of Prince of Bourbon, the Duchess of Alba, the Rockefeller family,
the family of former President Called of Mexico, and museums and galleries in
more than thirty countries around the world.)
What about the Angels?
A long time ago, Angelo had a vision that caused him to start painting
angels. For more than ten years he has painted them and helped others to paint
them.
In Brazil, there exists the tradition of milagros (eng: miracles), paintings
that are made to avoid a tragedy, to cure one that already exists or to ask
for a special miracle. Angelo's angels come from the same source: They are made
to protect (Angelo gives away hundreds of tiny angels painted on plastic tablets
inscribed with the words “thanks for protecting us”). Angelo's angels are made
to protect, to brighten up that which is sad. They are an act of magic more
than decoration. They are like that guardian angel who, when we were children,
we thought would always protect us.
With his curatorial assistance, the Colombian consulate organized a
1997 exhibition of angels which brought together more than fifty international
artists. The success of the exhibit was such that the United Nations exhibited
part of it this summer and the exhibition is scheduled to be shown in other
galleries in the New York area in the coming year.
Where Is Angelo?
Please take a tour through Angelo’s Galleries and be sure to href=”http://www.solnet.net/ARGuestbook.htm”>sign the guest book.
The exhibit will change from time to time, so be sure to come back and take
another look.
The work of Angelo Romano is also on permanent exhibition at the Latin
American Workshop in New York City (2710 Broadway at 104th St., third floor).
If you are interested in:
- purchasing or exhibiting Angelo’s paintings, masks, sculptures,
and fabric designs
- licensing images for publication
- logo design
- or commissioning Angelo for an installation
or have any questions about Angelo’s work, please contact Dorothy Potter
at the The Latin American Workshop at (212) 665-9460 or href=”mailto:eltaller@earthlink.net”>eltaller@earthlink.net.
This article courtesy of Solnet.net. Reprinted
by permission from El Puente Latino, August 1997 (translated from Spanish
by Dorothy Potter)
